Etiquette & Espionage

 Hi, 

    Over Spring Break, I read Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. This book is full of action, and it's a great read for people who love mystery. There are several reasons why this book is appealing and fun to read, but first, I will quickly summarize the book. 

This book takes place in the early 20th century/late 19th century, and it revolves around a girl Sophronia Temminick. She is a rebellious child who gives her conservative mother a hard time by not following any of the societal standards expected of her. The story begins with Sophronia spying on a friend of her mother’s in a dumbwaiter. She gets caught, and ends up getting sent away to a finishing school, which is like a boarding school that trains girls how to behave in high-class society. At first, Sophronia drags her feet and doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay at her home, annoy her mother and sisters, and mess around with her brothers. But her mother is adamant, and Sophronia finds herself in a carriage racing towards the finishing school. 

However, Sophronia quickly realizes that this is no ordinary finishing school. She notices something strange about the lady who came to her house to recruit her to the school, but doesn’t think anything of it until an even stranger interception during their journey. The carriage is attacked by creatures called flywaymen. At this point, it’s important to know that even though this story takes place during the 1900s, the society of this story is not what readers would expect. For one thing, creatures like vampires and werewolves exist. Some, like Sophronia’s conservative family, deny their existence, but it’s unquestionable that they are real. At the same time, there are advanced contraptions, called mechanicals, that behave a lot like robots. In fact, all the servants in this story (and there are a lot of servants) are these mechanicals. The flywaymen are similar to mechanicals, and they get around using a vehicle similar to a hot air balloon. Anyway, Sophronia manages to escape the flywaymen and reach safely to the school, but her adventures have only begun. 

Upon reaching the school, Sophronia realizes another strange thing about the finishing school: it floats on air. The school glides through the air using propellers, and lowers just a little bit for Sophronia and the two other recruits with her, who become her friends, to enter. They have to ride a werewolf to actually get high enough to enter, and once they do, Sophronia realizes that this is not the finishing school she nor her mother were expecting; Instead of teaching young ladies etiquette, this school trains the ladies to become elegant assassins and spies.   

At first, Sophronia is uncertain if she could ever become an assassin. But as time goes on, she realizes that this school is just meant for her. She meets unlikely people, and learns skills through interesting classes (like how to attack someone with an umbrella versus a knife) that she actually enjoys. But Sophronia also makes an enemy: Monique de Pelouse. This was the person who had come to recruit Sophronia. In fact, Monique’s “final” was to bring the three recruits to the school. But Monique soon makes it clear that she is working on her own terms, as she steals a prototype and refuses to tell anyone of its location. Sophronia makes it her business to find the prototype and return it safely to the school’s main teachers. 

One thing that was interesting about this story were the chapters. The chapters seemed random and slightly confusing at first, as they seemed to not go exactly in chronological order. They were also titled strange things, such as “Conducting Oneself Properly at a Ball” and “How Not to Make Introductions”. The chapters seem like they are lessons, and seemed out of place at first. But towards the middle of the story, the structure of the book seems to make more sense. Each chapter highlighted a different skill Sophronia learned or an experience she had, which would contribute to how she would go about in stealing the prototype for Monique. 

The descriptions, character personalities, and worldbuilding of this book are also well thought out and engaging. In a school where everyone is either a spy or an assassin of some sort (one of the teachers even being a vampire), it is hard to keep secrets, and everyone is not who they seem to be. It’s really easy to make enemies, as in the case of Monique de Pelouse. The interactions between the characters are really fun to read. In addition, the structure of the school building is really interesting as well. Not only does it fly on air, but it has an irregular shape and consists of many different decks (or floors). Some rooms are closed off, but others open towards the air. The author does a good job of describing the setting and puts the story into perspective. 

All in all, I think that this book was really interesting to read, especially in the layout of the school and the arrangements of the chapters. If you’re interested in espionage, mechanical servants, a slight touch of magic, or all three, I recommend you read this book! 

Thanks for reading!

~ Sarah T